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I generally have about 1 year's worth of expenses on hand in my checking account. About the same in a non-taxable Roth that I can probably get a disbursement from in a week or two, and a moderate credit card available credit of about the same amount.

Beyond that, I try to have some immediate cash available for weekends/etc. should ATMs/etc. go down and something comes up where I cannot charge it to my credit card and/or get cash from the credit union because they are closed.

I do have social security income now that I am retired. It is sufficient to pay my mortgage/property taxes/insurance (my only debt), meds, utilities/fixed costs, so I should be covered there. But stuff happens - maybe someone steals my identity, or SSA thinks I have kicked the bucket or otherwise fouls it up. So I should always have a backup.

Beyond that, I have substantial savings in a 401k & regular IRA, but most of that is invested in the stock market for long term - ideally to fund my daughter's retirement (maybe a little for myself).

Stuff happens. I have more than once lost my job in my 50 years of working - last year I did again, and it took almost two months for OED to start paying UI benefits. At the time I had no other income (I didn't turn 66 until August so I did not want to start SS until then), but I had more than enough in my checking account to pay the bills for a year or more.

Last year, if not for the luck of the way the wind blew (literally), I could have lost my house, shop, property, several vehicles and most of my person possessions - due to the incredible stupidity of someone starting a campfire during extremely high fire danger conditions.

I've had sudden and significant medical expenses, both mine and my daughter's, to pay for, because insurance rarely pays most of those, and even if they do pay what some people think they should, then there are usually thousands left over in deductibles and copay. More than once I have had to whip out the credit card and then later pay $10K+ in uncovered medical/dental bills.

Then there are car repair bills (2019 I think it was, saw thousands in car repairs for a newly purchased used car for my daughter - I will never buy another VAG car {VW/Audi/Porsche} - especially from Beaverton Audi - that was a nightmare), new tires, etc., a new roof, etc.

Stuff happens. Guns and ammo are great to have, but these everyday emergencies are much more likely to happen than the zombie apocalypse.

At the very least, when a nuke goes off and kills your car due to EMP, being able to wave a couple of $20s (or hundreds if need be) in someone's face to get a quick ride home (or close enough) - could save your life, and maybe the lives of your loved ones.
 
When people say cash, they mean two different things:

Cash

and numbers in a liquid bank account

They are both "cash" but only one of those is useful when power is out or when you are unable to get to the bank, or the bank is closed, or society has broken (permanently or just temporarily like after a major catastrophe).

Don't forget to maintain both kinds of cash. How much paper money to keep on hand is a personal decision. Also, don't just have 100's. If you need paper money, then you will definitely want all bills so you can give exact change.

Negotiating or bartering when you need change back is NOT recommended, especially during a SHTF situation!
 
We keep our $$$ as if we're going to have a garage sale, lots of 1's, 5's, 10's & $20 bills.
Along with we have a lot of products that we could barter for goods and services that we do not have or cannot do, getting old sucks...
 
The way inflation is climbing, keeping cash on hand is very foolish. April inflation rate was 4.2%. A year ago the rate was only 0.12% At that rate of inflation increase, in one year the rate would be well over 160%/month.

$1000 cash in hand today would not buy a happy meal at McDonalds.
 
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Banks are not offering squat for interest so better to keep your cash on hand or put some of it in precious metals.
I get between 1-2% interest if I use my debit card 12 times in a month. OTOH, my credit card offers 1-5% Amazon rewards on purchases and I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon.

I almost never use my debit card for online purchases and since I retired I rarely go into town so I don't use the debit card much - just groceries and gas, which would be about twice a month, now twice a month for chiro too but that is maybe 6-8 debits. The last six months or so that I worked at Daimler I worked mostly at the Swan Island offices and they had a great cafeteria and the food was subsidized, so I would use my debit card there a lot - easily enough to get interest.
 
The way inflation is climbing, keeping cash on hand is very foolish. April inflation rate was 4.2%. A year ago the rate was only 0.12% At that rate of inflation increase, in one year the rate would be well over 160%/month.

$1000 cash in hand today would not buy a happy meal at McDonalds.

But you can still pay fixed debt (car/mortgage).
 
I get between 1-2% interest if I use my debit card 12 times in a month. OTOH, my credit card offers 1-5% Amazon rewards on purchases and I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon.

I almost never use my debit card for online purchases and since I retired I rarely go into town so I don't use the debit card much - just groceries and gas, which would be about twice a month, now twice a month for chiro too but that is maybe 6-8 debits. The last six months or so that I worked at Daimler I worked mostly at the Swan Island offices and they had a great cafeteria and the food was subsidized, so I would use my debit card there a lot - easily enough to get interest.
Spending a $100 to get $1 back isn't interest.
 
I thought this was a reasonable article.


It's very possible I missed something, but the article seems to be focused on a short period of inconvenience, not any dire situation. If that's true, then you don't need cash, you need to have on hand the things you would want to buy with it. I'd guess everyone in this forum has that already. In an actual dire situation where society is in collapse, I can't imagine money (or gold even) having any value. As others have suggested, anything that others need and don't have and you have in abundance is your currency.
 
Cash will have value at the outset of a collapse. Its value will drop as the crisis continues but for the first few days, cash will be king.
 
The way inflation is climbing, keeping cash on hand is very foolish. April inflation rate was 4.2%. A year ago the rate was only 0.12% At that rate of inflation increase, in one year the rate would be well over 160%/month.

$1000 cash in hand today would not buy a happy meal at McDonalds.
It's a Joe Biden/Obama Weimar Republic dream come true.
 
It's a Joe Biden/Obama Weimar Republic dream come true.
I don't see the connection. Weimar Germany printed money to pay off war debt and created crippling inflation, but presidents don't print money, they spend it if congress lets them. I'm guessing its not about deficit spending and the national debt since no mention of Trump, In any case, I too thought deficit spending during the Obama years might cause runaway inflation, but it didn't happen. Then I discovered the secret that, as Dick Cheney famously said, "deficits don't matter" not as long as the US Dollar is the only legit global reserve currency. The stability of the entire global financial structure is dependent on a stable dollar. Sure nations have flirted with the Euro and the Yuan, but they always come home to mama when things get tough. Like it or not, we are the only indispensable nation.
 

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